bigbore442001
06-01-2008, 07:22 PM
All in all it was a bit of a humbling experience. I usually shoot one or two birds in the spring but this season I was skunked. I have called birds in but not close enough. I have hunted some of my usual spots but was foiled by other hunters. I was also hampered by certain requirement at work, thus not allowing my usual leeway when it comes to hunting.
I had taken Friday off as a compensation for working a double shift when the house was in a bind. I hope they remember my sacrifices. I headed out with Dad in the wee hours. What is tough is getting up at 3:15 AM to get to our usual spot. We drove northward to our destination. This hunt would differ in that instead of carrying my usual 12 guage 3.5" magunum I would be carrying a muzzleloading shotgun. In a strange way I like the lightness of the gun. It was liberating in a sense. Dad has a broken bone in his foot and doctors orders are for him to stay off his feet as much as possible. Yeah. Right. I gently reminded him of the doctors orders when he was in the garden running the rototiller. He can't sit still. If he doesn't and the bone doesn't heal right, the doctor said he will be put into a cast. Right now he wears a plastic boot.
Anyways. He wanted to go but would sit in the truck. We'd communicate with a set of FRS radios to report anything going on. I walked in the light of a nearly full moon through the cool pastures. I sat and listened for any gobbling. Not a sound after nearly an hour. This area is hammered hard by other hunters but I didn't do enough scouting for the spring. It is getting tough in the Bay State to hunt turkey. They are all congregating in subdivisions where people have large bird feeders. Needless to say you can't shoot in such areas.
I walked back after scouting a small sand pit for tracks. Before the season there were three or four sets of tracks. Now only one remains.
Dad and I agreed to drive down the other side of the highway and see what we can spot from some semi hidden pastures. As we drove we spotted a bird heading parallel to us into some woodland. I stopped and pulled over. Got my ghillie suit on and attempted to set up an ambush. I walked a couple hundred feet down the road and walked in. I wanted to get to a bottleneck between pastures and do a quick set up. As I crossed the patch of woods I had to go down a steep banking and cross a small swamp. That is fun with a ghillie suit and a muzzleloader. I did it as quietly as possible using the butt of the TC as a brace in some spots.
I finally entered the edge of the field and sat down. I called with as much expertise as I could muster for more than an hour and then contacted Dad. He told me that the bird scootched back out of the woods and crossed the pastures. Hmm. I can ambush him. There is another pinch point that I can go to and set up the decoy . I trudged across the pasture and to the old cart road where I would deer hunt after working at the old school. I walked up the road and set up the decoy. I sat on a small flat area of hardwoods bordering a pasture and did my best to imitate a vivacious hen. After and hour, no luck. No sight nor sound of a gobbler. I was itching to drop the hammer on this new gun on a gobbler. I did a lot of shooting and load testing but so far it looks as if it wouldn't be used. I decided to call it and go to another spot. I walked across the hardwood flat and came to a steep slope back into the horseshoe shaped swamp. I crossed that without getting too wet and proceeded back to the pinch point. I was startled by a racous din created by a small murder of crows. It appears that they were upset about something. As I rounded the corner I spotted the reason for their consternation. There was a big owl up a large tree that they were harassing. The crows surrounded the owl and were cawing for all their worth. At that point I wondered why this owl didn't take off with me being in clear sight. It has been my limited experience that owls tend to flee from my sight withing a certain distance. I would soon find out why this owl was tolerating my presense.
I walked out into the figure 8 shaped pasture and walked eastward in the hopes of seeing where the bird may have gone. As I walked I noticed a moderately sized drumlin off to my left. I found a spot where there was a small trail and climbed the drumlin. This thing is steep and it was painfully evident that I am woefully out of shape. Too much snaking and not enough exercise. As I climbed higher I could see the owl not more than twenty five to thirty yards to my left. It then took off with crows in hot pursuit. When I got to the top the drumlin leveled off with large white pines off to my right and some mixed hardwoods. As I proceeded I was startled by a bird taking off into a smaller white oak. It looked like a young owl. It was a fledgling owl on the ground and now was up a tree about thirty feet. As it landed, it turned it's head completely around to watch me. I had to laugh a bit to myself. The fledgling had a rounded head and the legs were gray and fuzzy as if it wore some sort pantaloons. I summized that the other full sized owl was the mother and she was drawing the crows away from her fledgling. I decided to give the little guy some peace and moved on. I was out for turkey and wanted a bird.
I came to the edge of the drumlin and spotted the pasture where the turkey took off to. It was empty and then I spotted a small hobby farm, posted of course. I then figured we needed to go to another spot.
I walked back and told dad the tale of the owl. He laughed and recalled seeing an owl in Maine that watched him intently. The bird probably never saw a human before and had no idea what my Dad was.
We drove to a hidden and somewhat abandoned farm. In all honesty it isn't that hidden as it is hammered. We drove to the top of the hill to the abandoned barn and I walked around. As I walked to the edge of the barn, I spotted a hen. She spotted me and took off into the woods. I summized that there must be more birds so I walked down the abandoned and now overgrowing pasture. As I walked I spotted a huge white pine. Dad commented that he suspected birds roosting in it. As I got closer to the white pine I spotted a homemade urinal. It had a big treestand in it. I then took a bearing to my left and headed to a hardwood ridge. As I walked I spotted another treestand. What I spotted next was really interesting .
I saw some droppings that one would normally find in northern New England. It was fresh moose droppings. Four clumps that must have been made minutes ago.I walked along the ridge and did some more calling. Nothing. I walked back to the truck and chatted with Dad.
We then took off to another parcel of open land. Four hidden pastures that looked good on the map but didn't have any birds. I do know that it had plenty of deer sign. I will look into this spot for deer hunting this year. At that point we headed home. We stopped for a fancy coffee at borders book store and then checked my archery blind at a friend's home.
The next day found me bright and early with bow in hand. I won't belabor any details but needless to say, no birds showed up.
I did have some fun and exercise but in a way I felt humbled in that I didn't get my bird. Hopefully next season will be more fruitful.
I had taken Friday off as a compensation for working a double shift when the house was in a bind. I hope they remember my sacrifices. I headed out with Dad in the wee hours. What is tough is getting up at 3:15 AM to get to our usual spot. We drove northward to our destination. This hunt would differ in that instead of carrying my usual 12 guage 3.5" magunum I would be carrying a muzzleloading shotgun. In a strange way I like the lightness of the gun. It was liberating in a sense. Dad has a broken bone in his foot and doctors orders are for him to stay off his feet as much as possible. Yeah. Right. I gently reminded him of the doctors orders when he was in the garden running the rototiller. He can't sit still. If he doesn't and the bone doesn't heal right, the doctor said he will be put into a cast. Right now he wears a plastic boot.
Anyways. He wanted to go but would sit in the truck. We'd communicate with a set of FRS radios to report anything going on. I walked in the light of a nearly full moon through the cool pastures. I sat and listened for any gobbling. Not a sound after nearly an hour. This area is hammered hard by other hunters but I didn't do enough scouting for the spring. It is getting tough in the Bay State to hunt turkey. They are all congregating in subdivisions where people have large bird feeders. Needless to say you can't shoot in such areas.
I walked back after scouting a small sand pit for tracks. Before the season there were three or four sets of tracks. Now only one remains.
Dad and I agreed to drive down the other side of the highway and see what we can spot from some semi hidden pastures. As we drove we spotted a bird heading parallel to us into some woodland. I stopped and pulled over. Got my ghillie suit on and attempted to set up an ambush. I walked a couple hundred feet down the road and walked in. I wanted to get to a bottleneck between pastures and do a quick set up. As I crossed the patch of woods I had to go down a steep banking and cross a small swamp. That is fun with a ghillie suit and a muzzleloader. I did it as quietly as possible using the butt of the TC as a brace in some spots.
I finally entered the edge of the field and sat down. I called with as much expertise as I could muster for more than an hour and then contacted Dad. He told me that the bird scootched back out of the woods and crossed the pastures. Hmm. I can ambush him. There is another pinch point that I can go to and set up the decoy . I trudged across the pasture and to the old cart road where I would deer hunt after working at the old school. I walked up the road and set up the decoy. I sat on a small flat area of hardwoods bordering a pasture and did my best to imitate a vivacious hen. After and hour, no luck. No sight nor sound of a gobbler. I was itching to drop the hammer on this new gun on a gobbler. I did a lot of shooting and load testing but so far it looks as if it wouldn't be used. I decided to call it and go to another spot. I walked across the hardwood flat and came to a steep slope back into the horseshoe shaped swamp. I crossed that without getting too wet and proceeded back to the pinch point. I was startled by a racous din created by a small murder of crows. It appears that they were upset about something. As I rounded the corner I spotted the reason for their consternation. There was a big owl up a large tree that they were harassing. The crows surrounded the owl and were cawing for all their worth. At that point I wondered why this owl didn't take off with me being in clear sight. It has been my limited experience that owls tend to flee from my sight withing a certain distance. I would soon find out why this owl was tolerating my presense.
I walked out into the figure 8 shaped pasture and walked eastward in the hopes of seeing where the bird may have gone. As I walked I noticed a moderately sized drumlin off to my left. I found a spot where there was a small trail and climbed the drumlin. This thing is steep and it was painfully evident that I am woefully out of shape. Too much snaking and not enough exercise. As I climbed higher I could see the owl not more than twenty five to thirty yards to my left. It then took off with crows in hot pursuit. When I got to the top the drumlin leveled off with large white pines off to my right and some mixed hardwoods. As I proceeded I was startled by a bird taking off into a smaller white oak. It looked like a young owl. It was a fledgling owl on the ground and now was up a tree about thirty feet. As it landed, it turned it's head completely around to watch me. I had to laugh a bit to myself. The fledgling had a rounded head and the legs were gray and fuzzy as if it wore some sort pantaloons. I summized that the other full sized owl was the mother and she was drawing the crows away from her fledgling. I decided to give the little guy some peace and moved on. I was out for turkey and wanted a bird.
I came to the edge of the drumlin and spotted the pasture where the turkey took off to. It was empty and then I spotted a small hobby farm, posted of course. I then figured we needed to go to another spot.
I walked back and told dad the tale of the owl. He laughed and recalled seeing an owl in Maine that watched him intently. The bird probably never saw a human before and had no idea what my Dad was.
We drove to a hidden and somewhat abandoned farm. In all honesty it isn't that hidden as it is hammered. We drove to the top of the hill to the abandoned barn and I walked around. As I walked to the edge of the barn, I spotted a hen. She spotted me and took off into the woods. I summized that there must be more birds so I walked down the abandoned and now overgrowing pasture. As I walked I spotted a huge white pine. Dad commented that he suspected birds roosting in it. As I got closer to the white pine I spotted a homemade urinal. It had a big treestand in it. I then took a bearing to my left and headed to a hardwood ridge. As I walked I spotted another treestand. What I spotted next was really interesting .
I saw some droppings that one would normally find in northern New England. It was fresh moose droppings. Four clumps that must have been made minutes ago.I walked along the ridge and did some more calling. Nothing. I walked back to the truck and chatted with Dad.
We then took off to another parcel of open land. Four hidden pastures that looked good on the map but didn't have any birds. I do know that it had plenty of deer sign. I will look into this spot for deer hunting this year. At that point we headed home. We stopped for a fancy coffee at borders book store and then checked my archery blind at a friend's home.
The next day found me bright and early with bow in hand. I won't belabor any details but needless to say, no birds showed up.
I did have some fun and exercise but in a way I felt humbled in that I didn't get my bird. Hopefully next season will be more fruitful.